Enough To Go By
by forthecoast
Summary: A collection of drabbles and short stories, mostly Jane/Lisbon in nature, all prompt-based. Latest: Something Borrowed. For sirenofodyseus.
1. drop in the ocean

**Intro Notes:** I've never really done a collection before, but I figured I would give it a shot. I've been busy with several prompts for the fic meme at mentalistprompt over on LJ, and while everything I write there will be posted to my LJ writing archive (for_the_coast) first, I wanted to post them over here as well. Especially as I'll probably also be starting the alphabet meme in the next few weeks, as if I could _possibly_ ever be in need of yet another fic project ;)

This will be a collection of drabbles and short stories, all less than 1,000 words in length. Everything else I write will still be posted separately.

In other news, on the off chance that any of you are actually waiting for Watershed to be updated, I have only one more thing to add: SOON, I promise (you heard it here first).

**Disclaimer:** Not now, not ever.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Title:** drop in the ocean  
**Rating:** K  
**Category:** Jane/Lisbon  
**Genre:** Romance-ish  
**Spoilers: **General. Set in the future, but it's not specific.**  
Word Count:** 358  
**Notes:** Written for chizuru-chibi at mentalistprompt's fic meme. Prompt was: Jane/Lisbon - A windy day.

xxxxx

She waits for him on the beach.

It's only the third time she's been here, and it will be the last.

The first time, she gagged when she saw the face on the wall, then she held him while he cried. The second time, her hands were covered in paint as she listened to stories of his past; of his daughter, his childhood, and eventually, his wife. She sat patiently as the paint fumes cleared, until long after he was done talking. She waited until he was ready to leave.

This time, she helped sort things into boxes. Some for storage, some for Goodwill, and some for his new apartment in Sacramento; the latter being the most important, and also the most difficult.

He won't be coming back here either, so she decided to give him a few minutes alone. However long he needs.

She doesn't mind waiting.

Time passes slowly without him, and she finds herself drawn closer to the tide. Before her, the salt water rises and falls against the shoreline, lapping at her bare feet; the steady rhythm soothes her. Behind her, the house stands tall in all of its haunting grandeur.

He had been happy here once. He'd built a home and a family, and he'd loved them.

She never worries about being the second. The fact that he is comfortable and secure enough to share them with her tells her everything she needs to know.

She notices the moment he joins her, senses him approaching even as the sand masks the sound of his footsteps. He looks different now; not older or younger, but more relaxed. Peaceful.

"Are you ready?" she asks eventually.

It's late and the temperature has dropped ten degrees in the time she stood alone, but all she feels is the warmth of his hand as he links their fingers together.

"I am," he whispers in reply.

But they stand together at the water's edge until long after the sun goes down and the tide ebbs away. Moonlight shines against the waves as the ocean breeze shifts directions.

The wind whips gently through her hair. She doesn't seem to notice.

xxxxx


	2. while we breathe

**Title:** while we breathe  
**Rating:** K+  
**Category:** Jane/Lisbon  
**Genre:** Vaguely some combination of Friendship/Angst/Hurt/Comfort. Romance if you squint.  
**Spoilers:** General  
**Word Count:** 592  
**Notes:** Written for tromana at mentalistprompt's fic meme. Prompt was: Jane/Lisbon - "Where there's life, there's hope."

Thank you to everyone who took the time to review _drop in the ocean_.

xxxxx

Jane has always hated hospitals.

As far as he can see, they have very little to offer, regardless of how much they might advertise a never-ending capacity for healing. Instead, the overpowering odor of antiseptic and disease washes over him, numbing his senses.

He's sitting in the waiting room, and he watches the bustle of the hospital personnel around him. He is alone.

He wants to tell Lisbon about the other people in the waiting room. The well-dressed businessman sitting in the last chair in the corner who is here visiting his mistress, or the receptionist at the front desk who is hoping the next shift arrives on time so she can make her daughter's dance recital. He wants to annoy her with games of I Spy and offer to bring her overpriced, watered-down coffee from the cafeteria. He wants her to roll her eyes and threaten him as he annoys the nurses.

Mostly, he just wants her to wake up.

xxx

It was his fault.

No one from the rest of the team blames him; they even encouraged him to stay and wait when they had to get back to work. But Jane knows better.

He knew that going back to the bar where the victim worked wouldn't actually give him any insight into their murderer, but he wanted to get a better read on which one of her managers the victim was sleeping with. She had been with him just hours before she died, although their best suspect was still the victim's father.

If only Jane hadn't insisted on going back to the bar.

But he had, and Lisbon had gone with him. To keep him from doing anything he might (the CBI might) regret later. To make sure he didn't get into trouble.

Of course, he did anyway.

And now she is in the ICU, unconscious, and he is in the waiting room, alone.

xxx

There are no couches in the ICU waiting room, so he falls asleep sitting up. He's leaning back against a plastic chair; it's not relaxing or comfortable.

His eyes close for all of forty minutes, and he wakes up with a crick in his neck.

He finds it more difficult to track his thoughts without Elvis to keep him company.

xxx

Minelli stops by first thing in the morning.

He mumbles gruffly in greeting, but his concern is evident. He has always cared for Lisbon like a daughter.

Jane is relieved that someone Lisbon considers family can be there, even if she isn't awake to know the difference. Her brothers are on their way, but they all live halfway across the country, have wives or girlfriends, children, jobs. Either Cho or Van Pelt called them the night before, but it's going to be another day or so until the Lisbon brothers can get there.

It's only fitting that Minelli be the stand in.

xxx

It's another six hours before the doctors let Jane see her.

He's been told that she's out of the woods, but he remains unconvinced until he sees her for himself.

She's lying in the bed, connected to multiple IV lines, with machines and heart monitors beeping methodically in the background. She appears unusually pale and impossibly small.

Lisbon _never_ looks small.

He reaches out to touch her wrist. He doesn't quite believe the heart monitor until he feels her pulse under his own fingers.

Reassured, just enough, he takes the seat by her bedside.

For as long as she keeps breathing, he's happy to wait.

xxxxx


	3. Something Borrowed

**Title:** Something Borrowed  
**Rating:** K  
**Category:** Jane/Lisbon  
**Genre:** Humor/Crackfic. Mostly crackfic.  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Word Count:** 276  
**Notes:** Written for sirenofodyseus at mentalistprompt's fic meme. Prompt was: Jane/Lisbon - proposal.

And now for something _completely_ different. You know those ideas where common sense says "STEP AWAY" and your muse says "NO, WRITE IT ANYWAY" ... yeah, that's the only explanation I've got. I promise my next piece will be legit and not quite so crackfic. In the meantime, Watershed is actually with the beta and should be up in the next 24 hours.

xxxxx

"Lisbon?"

Jane pokes his head through the door and announces his presence. Only then does he knock.

"Yes, Jane?" She looks up from her computer for just a half of a second, nodding in acknowledgement before going back to her work.

Displeased by Lisbon's apparent lack of interest, he approaches her desk. He leans over and encroaches on her personal space until she is forced to give him her full attention.

"I've been thinking," he begins, ignoring her thinly-disguised grunt of displeasure. "We need to go back and take another look at Mr. Hagan's sister."

Lisbon shakes her head. "We don't need to re-interview her."

"Not exactly," he counters. "But there's very little security in her building and she lives alone, so it's entirely plausible that she snuck out in the middle of the night and -"

"Jane!" Lisbon cuts him off, narrowing her eyes insistently. "Ellen Hagan has been in a wheelchair since her car accident eight years ago. There's no way she had anything to do with her brother's murder!"

"You never know." He gestures emphatically with his hands as he argues his point. "If I could just -"

"No!" She cuts him off again, more forcefully this time. "You are not checking her shoes." She sighs and tilts her head reflectively, then adds, "Besides, I already checked while you were off annoying one of her neighbors. You're out of luck. They're clean."

He pauses for a beat in contemplation before cracking a semi-serious smile.

"Lisbon?" he asks finally.

"Yes?"

"Marry me?"

He ducks back out of her office just in time to dodge the stapler as it goes flying past his head.

xxxxx


End file.
